PowerballReview

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Essentially an early '90s version of Mario Strikers Charged.

By Lucas M. Thomas

High-tech arenas, fast-paced passing and kicking, two teams opposing each other in full-on suits of futuristic armor &#Array; it's a formula for revisionist video gaming soccer seen once before on the Wii in Mario Strikers Charged, but which was truly birthed many, many years ago in games like this one. Powerball. Namco's 16-bit futuristic soccer simulator that hit the Genesis back in 1991, and hit the Virtual Console just two weeks ago. But don't be surprised if you've never heard about this one before, because for as pioneering as it and other "combat" sports games were in the early '90s, it's a sub-genre of the sporting category that's always been easy to overlook.

"Powerball" is a fictional futuristic sport invented specifically for this game, a contest of armor-assisted athleticism that is based largely on soccer but also mixes in the rules of American football too. You're placed in charge of a team of 10, and the aim of the game is to score against your opponents in one of two ways. First, as in soccer, you can kick the powerball past the opposing team's goalie and into their net. Second, as in football, you can simply pick up the powerball and run with it into the opposing team's end zone. Soccer-style goals and football-style touchdowns &#Array; both are legal and allowed in Powerball.

In fact, there aren't many things that aren't allowed in Powerball &#Array; there are few rules and restrictions placed on the players, leaving them wide open to be as aggressive as possible in going for the win. This plays out violently, as you're encouraged to tackle, trip, slam and otherwise beat up any member of the opposing team in order to get the ball back and turn the tide for your squad. Very rarely will you get to make a clean run across the field with the ball without someone in a differently-colored outfit running you down and punching you in the face.

"Blue, 42! Blue, 42! Hut, hut, hike!"

So, yeah, it's a lot like Mario Strikers Charged and may likely appeal to those players who first enjoyed that game last summer. Unfortunately, because of its age and because of some design decisions made for Powerball nearly two decades ago, it never becomes quite as appealing as Mario's take on the same idea.

For one, the field in Powerball is displayed completely vertically, shown from a directly-overhead bird's-eye view. This is less than ideal, and it makes the game feel like it's lacking real depth in its visuals. The players are always shown at the same size across the screen, unless they jump &#Array; at which point the game animates them into an odd leaping position. Likewise, the ball enlarges erratically as it gets "closer to the camera" above the action.

For two, the controls and command of your multiple team members can often get confusing. The field is larger than you'd think it would be, and with 10 of your own men swarming around the arena it can be difficult to get your bearings on who is going where and when. An inset map in the upper-right corner of the screen tracks the positions of every player all at once, which helps a bit, but you never really feel like you have a full understanding of what all's going on at once.

What's more, certain players are restricted in where they can move on the field, and that can be frustrating &#Array; you may want to charge up the middle with your goalie, but the game won't allow it. A bummer.

Powerball is probably at its best when two humans go head-to-head against one another in the two-player simultaneous mode, in much the same way that Mario Strikers Charged isn't nearly as fun without a friend to play against. But that all depends, of course, on whether or not you already own Mario Strikers &#Array; because if you did, there'd be little reason to play this instead of that.

The Verdict

And that's where Powerball ultimately lands &#Array; it's essentially an old-school Virtual Console version of one of the Wii's major first-party releases from last year. If you're a fan of "combat" sports titles that are over-the-top and unrealistic like Mario Strikers Charged, NBA Jam and (for the obscure reference of the day...) Bill Laimbeer's Combat Basketball, then Powerball could be 800 Wii Points well spent for you. But if you and your friends have already played Mario Strikers to death since last July, you're probably better off saving those digital dollars for another day.